To Medical Center Employees:
At the Feb. 2 management communications meeting Meredith Strehle,
Children’s Hospital Marketing and Service Excellence manager and
co-team leader of the Standards Team, announced the Standard of the
Month for February. This month’s standard is “keep all interactions
positive and discuss internal issues only with those who need to know.”
The standards are based upon and are intended to support our
organizational values. The intent of having a medical center (MUHA)
monthly standard is to consistently communicate all standards.

Strehle explained that we are announcing a “code word” for employees’
use when behaviors are observed that are not in keeping with our
standards. This code word is “excellence” and should be used to
politely communicate with one another when our standards appear to be
compromised.

The medical center’s (MUHA’s) behavioral standards are essentially the
same standards adopted by the College of Medicine (COM) and University
Medical Associates (UMA). MUHA and the COM/UMA routinely announce a
quarterly standard for the entire clinical enterprise. The quarterly
standard serves as the MUHA “quarterly focus.” The current quarterly
focus is based upon our value of “respect” and is “help lost guests
find their way by walking them to their destination.”

Thanks to everyone for supporting our behavioral standards. Through
embracing these standards we make the medical center a great place for
patients to get their care, a great place to work and a great place for
physicians and other clinicians to practice medicine and teach.

People—Fostering employee pride and loyaltySandy
Gould, 1W Adult ED nurse manager, and Julie Heckman, Pediatric ED nurse
manager, praised progress with the new immediate bedding process used
in both areas. This process improvement initiative focuses on
decreasing the time from patient arrivals to bed assignment, shortening
door-to-doctor time and improving collections. In the Adult
Emergency Services, staff were able to bring patients directly to an
available room bypassing the ED triage process. Since the project was
initiated, Gould reported that Adult Emergency Services achieved a 95th
percentile ranking in patient satisfaction. Also the ED Business office
reported an increase collections by more than 500 percent.

Heckman also praises the success of the Immediate Bedding project,
which was piloted in their area in 2007. Since moving to their new
expanded area, scores have vastly improved. Staff have used call backs
successfully, which has led to more satisfied families. Heckman praised
the support of Lisa Cooper and the admissions staff for their help.

Business Continuity Sustainable Planner
Wayne Brannan, University Risk Management director, recognized details
with the MUSC Enterprisewide Business Continuity Plan (BCP). He
introduced Jennifer Taylor and Juli Dorn, who will work with medical
center staff. Started in 2006, the plan is a Joint Commission’s
performance standard. BCP practices require hospitals to respond
and recover from emergencies especially if it involves MUSC.
Health care organizations are typically involved regarding to emergency
response. Businesses consider business continuity as an information
technology effort.

Eventually, 494 unit plans will be developed. Using a bottom-up
approach, individual plans will roll up into division plans and
division plans will roll up into one enterprisewide BCP effort. Senior
leadership will have the information necessary to manage a complete
recovery of MUSC activities regardless of the scope/size of the event.

Organizers
will use a Web-based system featuring BCP and survey questionnaire
software. As BCPs are developed across the MUSC enterprise, the project
will include a system featuring a recovery time objective; unit task
lists; recovery resource requirements (staff, supplies, emergency
purchases); vendor lists; and business impact analysis (critical
applications, interdependencies, financial impacts)

User training with the survey will be accomplished within one hour.
Organizers adopted a centrally-managed approach to manage the plan.

Finally, Brannan reviewed the latest BCP accomplishments. So far, 52
surveys were identified in University Finance & Administration. A
total of 40 plans have been completed and 47 liaisons have been
trained. In November, beta testing was conducted in the Academic
Division and Research areas with a planned roll out in February.

Organizers have started beta testing in MUHA departments with six
liaisons already trained and five plans in progress.
Hematology/Oncology was the first department to complete their plan.

Next steps include: Identification/verification of departmental/unit
plans are needed; identification of departmental/unit Business
Continuity liaisons; and completion of surveys and development of
uniform BCPs.

Target completion date is April 30.

Standard of Behavior—February
Meredith Strehle, marketing and service excellence manager for
Children’s and Perinatal Services and co-chair of the MUHA Excellence
Standards Team, reviewed February’s best practice and standard of
behavior—keep all interactions positive and discuss internal issues
with those who only need to know. The team is introducing a best
practice of applying the key word “excellence” as a peer-to-peer,
positive cue to all employees to follow the standards of behavior in
the workplace. Look for examples of proper use/application of the code
word in future e-mails and the communications Web site.

HR update

N-95 Respirator Fit
Testing for February and March—The mass fit testing is open to students
and employees who use this item. An OSHA Respirator Medical Evaluation
Questionnaire for fit testing must be completed and signed off by a
registered nurse. Any staff who answers yes must go to Employee
Health Services for an evaluation. Dates are Feb. 9 and 23, 11 a.m. to
4 p.m.; and March 9 and 23, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. All at 2W Amphitheater.

MUHA’s Tuition Assistance Policy #17 had some modifications to the policy as of October 2008.

Eligible employees must complete Section A: The employee must be
considered by the Authority to be in a regular, permanent position and
have successfully completed the one year probationary period.

Section B—Modified maximum tuition assistance to $5,250 per fiscal
year. Note: The modification of maximum amount applies to requests for
tuition assistance course work received for approval after Oct. 6,
2008. However, the change from calendar year to fiscal year was
effective Oct. 6, 2008.)

Service Commitment is calculated based on one month of full-time employment for each $400 tuition assistance received.

IWR report is available. The report will be modified by Feb. 7-8 to
include payback amount. (Managers should contact MUHA HR for final
payback amount). Employee must sign a promissory note and is
responsible for service commitment or repayment.

Benefit of the Month—February
Mark Stimpson, benefits manager, shared details regarding the change
between Aetna and Prudential for long-term care insurance or nursing
home care insurance. It provides financial help for someone dealing
with a debilitating illness or injury that is unable to perform daily
living activities.

Care may be provided at home or at a licensed facility by a
professional or informal caregiver (friend or relative). Long-term care
insurance supports patients with spinal cord injuries, Parkinson’s,
Alzheimer’s or stroke recovery patient.

MUHA HR will offer an open enrollment period to employees from Feb. 16 to March 6.

Employees who enroll during this time can avoid the need to prove good
health. Coverage would begin on April 1 and is completely portable.
Premiums are paid to Prudential and not payroll deduction.

Employees
may apply for coverage for spouses, parents, grandparents and
themselves at any time throughout 2009, but need to declare their past
medical history. Prudential has the right to decline coverage based on
this.

Melissa
Feather, Medu-care clinical manager, answered questions re-garding
changes to the Patient and Family Shuttle. The service has expanded
support to include MUSC staff as well as patients and families to ride
a continuous, set route between McClennan Banks, Hollings Cancer
Center, Clinical Sciences Building, Rutledge Tower and Ashley
River Tower. With three separate shuttles, all are on a rotating
schedule.

Since it is a patient-centered service, the shuttle does not follow a
set schedule. Wheel-chair patients, patients and their families will
always be a priority with this service.

Quality—Providing quality patient care in a safe environmentMary
Stoll, Environment of Care program, updated managers on the Joint
Commission Interdisciplinary Survey Readiness Rounds. Stoll reviewed
the topic of obstructions, especially in all corridors and with fire
safety equipment. She reviewed photos of common obstructions throughout
the medical center. Items such as beds, carts, Wallaroo workstations,
wheelchairs, ladders, and other items can be found in corridors. The
team reviewed needed changes with staff in order to stay compliant.
Mayday carts are the only items that are allowed to be stored in
hallways.

The
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